https://thepickyreader.com/ New and notable theology releases, tracked weekly. en-us Sun, 06 Sep 2026 21:36:32 +0000 https://thepickyreader.com/book-the-death-of-religion https://thepickyreader.com/book-the-death-of-religion Tue, 01 Sep 2026 00:00:00 +0000 A sociologist and a historian read the data on the rise of the "nones" and come to a different conclusion than the headlines do. Kidd's historical eye keeps the argument from becoming a statistics dump. https://thepickyreader.com/book-developing-a-healthy-prayer-life https://thepickyreader.com/book-developing-a-healthy-prayer-life Tue, 01 Sep 2026 00:00:00 +0000 Thirty-one short, practical meditations on prayer as communion with God. https://thepickyreader.com/book-the-theology-and-theologians-of-scotland https://thepickyreader.com/book-the-theology-and-theologians-of-scotland Tue, 01 Sep 2026 00:00:00 +0000 Originally delivered as a series of Cunningham Lectures at New College, Edinburgh, Walker covers topics dealt with at length by Scottish theologians, including predestination, the nature and extent of the… https://thepickyreader.com/book-pastoring-the-whole-person https://thepickyreader.com/book-pastoring-the-whole-person Tue, 01 Sep 2026 00:00:00 +0000 In Pastoring the Whole Person, professor and research psychologist Erin Smith draws on two decades of work to equip church leaders with tools from human psychology so they can better understand and serve people… https://thepickyreader.com/book-spurgeon-the-man-beyond-the-pulpit https://thepickyreader.com/book-spurgeon-the-man-beyond-the-pulpit Tue, 01 Sep 2026 00:00:00 +0000 Biographer Ray Rhodes focuses less on the thunder of the metropolitan pulpit and more on Spurgeon at home, tracing his inner strength back to the simple, quiet pastures of rural England. https://thepickyreader.com/book-the-tearing-of-the-temple-curtain https://thepickyreader.com/book-the-tearing-of-the-temple-curtain Tue, 01 Sep 2026 00:00:00 +0000 In this book, Adam W. Jones and J. Daniel Hays argue that God the Father tore the curtain of the temple as an act of mourning over his Son's death. This interpretation has been neglected, though it has ancient precedent. In Jewish and Greco-Roman cultures, tearing clothes was a common expression of grief, and early Christian interpreters often linked this custom to the tearing of the temple curtain. https://thepickyreader.com/book-the-book-of-psalms https://thepickyreader.com/book-the-book-of-psalms Tue, 01 Sep 2026 00:00:00 +0000 This translation takes a different approach. Intentionally literal and transparent to the underlying Hebrew, James M. Hamilton Jr.'s rendering lets the structure of the original show through, allowing readers to encounter the psalms' language and form in ways most English translations don't permit. Rather than smoothing the Hebrew into fluent English verse, Hamilton holds back and lets the poetry speak on its own terms, preserving and displaying the features that define it. https://thepickyreader.com/book-create-in-me-a-clean-heart https://thepickyreader.com/book-create-in-me-a-clean-heart Tue, 01 Sep 2026 00:00:00 +0000 Based on sermons from Matthew Boswell, this devotional shares biblical wisdom and practical insights from Psalm 51, teaching readers how to have a heart that is repentant, restored, renewed, and… https://thepickyreader.com/book-awake-my-soul https://thepickyreader.com/book-awake-my-soul Wed, 26 Aug 2026 00:00:00 +0000 365 hymns from the Middle Ages to the twentieth century, each paired with a brief meditation. https://thepickyreader.com/book-god-s-ambassadors https://thepickyreader.com/book-god-s-ambassadors Tue, 25 Aug 2026 00:00:00 +0000 How the Westminster Assembly sought to reform English preaching. https://thepickyreader.com/book-the-undivided-life https://thepickyreader.com/book-the-undivided-life Tue, 25 Aug 2026 00:00:00 +0000 This exploration of the New Testament book of James helps readers identify double-mindedness in their own lives and understand God’s grace as he “pulls apart the divided heart to make it whole.” https://thepickyreader.com/book-worship-and-wisdom-for-formation-and-flourishing https://thepickyreader.com/book-worship-and-wisdom-for-formation-and-flourishing Tue, 25 Aug 2026 00:00:00 +0000 Walking faithfully with God cannot be separated from humans' deepest emotional and spiritual needs. https://thepickyreader.com/book-womans-place https://thepickyreader.com/book-womans-place Tue, 25 Aug 2026 00:00:00 +0000 A close reading of the women of Scripture and their place in the biblical story. https://thepickyreader.com/book-come-thou-fount-of-every-blessing https://thepickyreader.com/book-come-thou-fount-of-every-blessing Tue, 18 Aug 2026 00:00:00 +0000 A thirty-one-day liturgy for daily worship built on the Psalter, with historic prayers, creeds, and catechisms set alongside. The companion to Be Thou My Vision, and the same quiet discipline: someone else's words to pray when your own run out. https://thepickyreader.com/book-holy-people-holy-land https://thepickyreader.com/book-holy-people-holy-land Tue, 18 Aug 2026 00:00:00 +0000 God shares his perfect love with his creatures in covenantal relationships. For such love to be realized, the people must love God fully and become a holy people, and experience the indwelling presence of God by… https://thepickyreader.com/book-from-word-to-worship https://thepickyreader.com/book-from-word-to-worship Tue, 18 Aug 2026 00:00:00 +0000 In From Word to Worship, Anglican pastor and theologian Michael Niebauer unlocks the lectionary's full potential as a vehicle for Christian formation. https://thepickyreader.com/book-bound-and-free https://thepickyreader.com/book-bound-and-free Sun, 16 Aug 2026 00:00:00 +0000 Bound and Free is not only a theology for the Christian life or another book on how to effectively live by faith. https://thepickyreader.com/book-doctrine-as-discipleship https://thepickyreader.com/book-doctrine-as-discipleship Sat, 15 Aug 2026 00:00:00 +0000 Why sound doctrine is essential to following Christ, not opposed to it. https://thepickyreader.com/book-happiness https://thepickyreader.com/book-happiness Sat, 15 Aug 2026 00:00:00 +0000 Andrew Wilson uniquely weaves biblical, theological, philosophical, psychological, and sociological methods to answer 6 major questions about human flourishing in our broken world. https://thepickyreader.com/book-on-the-resurrection https://thepickyreader.com/book-on-the-resurrection Sat, 15 Aug 2026 00:00:00 +0000 In this final volume of his magnum opus, resurrection scholar Gary Habermas delves into the profound implications of Jesus' resurrection. https://thepickyreader.com/book-a-covenant-feast https://thepickyreader.com/book-a-covenant-feast Wed, 12 Aug 2026 00:00:00 +0000 Recovering a richer, more biblical vision of the Lord's Supper as a true means of grace. https://thepickyreader.com/book-apocrypha https://thepickyreader.com/book-apocrypha Tue, 11 Aug 2026 00:00:00 +0000 A scholarly introduction to the Apocrypha and the Greek Old Testament. Releases 8/11. https://thepickyreader.com/book-interpreting-biblical-metaphors https://thepickyreader.com/book-interpreting-biblical-metaphors Sat, 08 Aug 2026 00:00:00 +0000 Biblical metaphors can be complicated and confusing. It can be tempting to read them as universal and context-free, assume they map directly onto modern life, or treat them as interchangeable with contemporary… https://thepickyreader.com/book-an-introduction-to-the-ot https://thepickyreader.com/book-an-introduction-to-the-ot Tue, 04 Aug 2026 00:00:00 +0000 Goldingay displays a robust confidence in the truthfulness of Scripture combined with a refreshing trust in the reader's ability to grapple responsibly with the Old Testament. https://thepickyreader.com/book-james-revisited https://thepickyreader.com/book-james-revisited Tue, 04 Aug 2026 00:00:00 +0000 Despite its reputation as an outlier, James resonates with the whole canon of the Bible. This letter refracts the Old Testament through Jesus's teachings in order to urge believers to maturity in the Lord. https://thepickyreader.com/book-the-four-senses-of-scripture https://thepickyreader.com/book-the-four-senses-of-scripture Tue, 04 Aug 2026 00:00:00 +0000 For nearly 1,700 years, the church read Scripture through four interwoven lenses, literal, allegorical, tropological, and anagogical, known as the quadriga. https://thepickyreader.com/book-exegetical-fallacies https://thepickyreader.com/book-exegetical-fallacies Tue, 04 Aug 2026 00:00:00 +0000 D. A. Carson and Andrew David Naselli teach interpreters to think critically and to develop sound reasons for the choices they make. To do this, interpreters must reject unsound reasons; so the authors identify common mistakes many Bible interpreters make and how to avoid them. https://thepickyreader.com/book-jerusalem-calls https://thepickyreader.com/book-jerusalem-calls Tue, 04 Aug 2026 00:00:00 +0000 In Jerusalem Calls, Tammy Priest tells the remarkable story of how God drew her to himself, and opens up the three Old Testament pilgrimage feasts that shaped her Jewish childhood to reveal something she had… https://thepickyreader.com/book-connected https://thepickyreader.com/book-connected Sat, 01 Aug 2026 00:00:00 +0000 An accessible, hands-on introduction to biblical hermeneutics built around Scripture's interconnectedness. https://thepickyreader.com/book-all-sufficient-god https://thepickyreader.com/book-all-sufficient-god Sat, 01 Aug 2026 00:00:00 +0000 These mighty sermons from Isaiah chapter 40 show that the God of the Bible is not only the great Creator and Judge but the Father of mercies and the God of all comfort who meets us at the point of our deepest need.